The medical care field has increasingly moved towards the use of disposable implements for conducting routine invasive testing because of the increased availability of new inexpensive plastic materials and an awareness of the difficulty and high cost of sterilizing reusable equipment.
Disposable medical implements are not, however, totally free of problems because disposability means increased supply costs and much more waste being produced. Medical waste is typically more expensive to dispose of than ordinary waste.
Medical practice upon certain patients such as children (or dogs and cats in the case of veterinary practice) can be more difficult due to uncooperativeness of the patient. It would be beneficial to adopt shortcuts in testing procedures where feasible to limit patient discomfort.
It is also desirable that the pathology of biological specimens be evaluated within the container in which the specimen is obtained and/or transported. This eliminates the need for additional transferring steps. Pathology evaluations can thus be undertaken in a less costly and waste-producing fashion which is quick, convenient, and safe.
There are various temperature-taking implements and feces sampling devices having a variety of special features in the prior art. Applicant, however, is not aware of such separate use implements having been previously combined to enable a medical practitioner to both take the temperature and remove a specimen of feces from a patient by means of a single rectal penetration, wherein the feces specimen can then promptly be evaluated within the sampling implement.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,593 to Oudewaal discloses a clinical thermometer probe with a disposable cover. The probe is made of a cylindrical tube with a thermistor probe contained in the hollow interior. A disposable cover with a membrane terminus engages the tube at the temperature sensing end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,921 to Trugillo discloses a temperature sensing endotracheal tube. A thermistor is mounted on the distal end portion through the side wall of the tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,950 to Snyder et al. discloses a disposable swab and culture unit made of a two-piece telescoping plastic cylinder which forms a disposable container for the swab and a liquid culture medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,450 to Nason discloses a specimen collection and test unit which has a fibrous swab tip at one end of an elongated hollow shank for use in collecting biological specimens. Test reagents can be pumped through the shank to the swab tip.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,259 to Bailey discloses a self-contained disposable swab-type medication applicator with an encapsulated topical medicine. The medicine is released by squeezing the capsule and a cover material is removed to expose the medicated swab.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,969,141 to Katzin discloses a disposable plastic cover for a thermometer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,043 to Mennen et al. discloses a tubular test device for testing occult blood in fecal matter using hydrogen peroxide in an ampoule adjacent a swab.
Other U.S. Patents of interest include No. 3,190,436 to Diamant; No. 738,960 to Vaughan; No. 4,351,616 to Farnstrom et al.; No. 4,297,944 to Catlin; No. 3,800,781 to Zalucki; No. 3,783,998 to Brush et al.; and No. 3,650,153 to Schwab.